


The Robot and Mr. Haas

by carusbasium



Category: Quantico (TV)
Genre: Caleb's POV, Canon Era, Canon Retelling, Canon-Typical Violence, Disjointed, Drama, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, POV Third Person Limited, Series Spoilers, Short Chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-07 18:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 21,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6819655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carusbasium/pseuds/carusbasium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caleb comes to the realization that Will might be exactly who he needs, in more ways than one. Warning for disjointed and shallow narrative. Canon typical Caleb/Shelby relationship is present but not a main focus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Shelby, Iris, and Alex make appearances but are never the focus.

“Oh great, he is literally a rocket scientist.”

At first glance Caleb saw nothing but competition and possible threat in Will. It was a classic Us vs. Them situation so that wasn't unreasonable reaction, but even looking into the other man's background didn't help ease the feeling like it usually did. It was something he hadn’t experienced in a while, not after his leave from Quantico and Caleb was desperate to get rid of the feeling; he decided the only way to do that would be to best Will.

Caleb started trying to outrun his time and perform better at anything they were tasked to do. Beating Will in one-on-one combat was a personal triumph for him and for a moment Caleb thought he had the situation completely under his control, but then he came to realize that the competition wasn't one sided at all – Will was just as eagerly trying to beat Caleb as Caleb was to beat him. It had quickly moved to a situation of the two simply competing against each other rather than the other's entire class. Caleb was annoyed beyond words that Will was better with computers than he was, but he remained confident that his class would have the hostage exercise in the bag.

As he sat there watching the camera feeds that he now realized were looped, he was dumbstruck by the fact that he himself hadn't considered that something like this could happen. Caleb listened as his class failed and was declared the losing side, and even if he felt annoyed he couldn't help the nagging feeling that if the roles were reversed, he would've attempted to do the same. This still didn't stop Caleb from voicing his objections.

“That doesn't mean that they can hack the CCTVs!” Caleb protested as he joined his classmates, glaring at Will as he walked past the more experienced group.  
Will didn't miss a beat when he put Caleb in his place with: “You mean unlike the 900 CCTVs hijacked by that bot net last year? Or pretty much any nanny cam ever, or Ariana Grande and the doughnut shop.” Even though Will wasn't looking at him directly as he laid out all these tidbits, Caleb couldn't help but to feel a little bit schooled by him.  
“I want you on my team on trivia night, but that's it.” Caleb shot back, meaning for it to sound insulting but realizing that it sounded more like admiration. He didn't have time to correct himself before others started speaking as enthusiastically against the unfairness of the situation.

Caleb thought the ordeal was over but later found out that Brandon was moving out of their joined room, and by some cruel joke Will had been assigned as the replacement. Caleb watched as the dark-haired man carried his belongings into the room and laid most of them on his new bed. Will seemed intent on ignoring Caleb's presence, and Caleb was fine with that arrangement but he still couldn't help but to watch. Will kept his backpack on as he kept pouncing between the closet and his bed, folding his clothes and rearranging them. It was weird, and Caleb was sure he wouldn't be able to stand even a full week with this weirdo in the same room if this kept up.


	2. Instigation

Will's anti-social tendencies were something that Caleb wasn't sure he saw as a good or a bad thing. On one hand Will didn't try to bother him and generally complied with requests to leave the room if Shelby came around, but Caleb also felt uneasy with the perpetual silence that hung over the room when it was just two of them. He missed chats with Brandon and the easier feeling the more sociable man had carried around with him. Hating it when things were beyond his control, Caleb decided to do something instead of just lamenting over it.

One of the peculiarities that the robot man displayed was his sock selecting process. He would stand over his opened drawer for several minutes at a time, simply staring at its contents without moving. Caleb could've perhaps even pretended to understand it if he had thought that Will was simply horribly indecisive over what color he felt like that day, but when all the socks were the same, Caleb just couldn't understand it. For the first few days Caleb had left the other man to his own devices and carried out his own morning routine, often managing to leave the room before his roommate would move, even though Will always woke before Caleb did. But once the blond-haired man decided to change the way they acted around each other, he took it as his business to interfere with this bizarre ritual.

Caleb walked out of the bathroom – still brushing his teeth – and stopped by the dresser. At first Will kept his gaze locked on the socks, but his eyes flickered in Caleb's direction as the man pulled out a pair of socks from one of the neatly arranged rows. Something in the way that Will's eyes dropped instantly away, like he was trying his hardest not to move a muscle made Caleb bite back the snide remark that was on his tongue. Instead he held the socks out for Will and asked: “How about these?”  
Slowly and without a word the dark-haired man took the offered socks, but still stayed in place as Caleb walked away. He remained there only for a moment longer before going back to his bed, the socks in hand. Caleb counted it as a victory for himself.

\------

After his first successful contact with this alien life form, Caleb repeated the same thing the next morning. He stopped by the dresser, picked out the socks at random, and held them out until Will took them. It seemed to be working well, because Will never questioned it or refused to go along with Caleb's pick. Next step was to get some smalltalk going but this seemed more difficult than he had anticipated. Caleb had figured it would be a challenge, but he had also assumed that it'd be a challenge for everyone; confusion settled in after he had started observing Will talk with multiple other trainees from Caleb's class. It puzzled the blond-haired man, so he frequently tried striking up any sort of conversation during the evenings but Will was always too nose deep in books or his laptop screen to pay much attention. The hot and cold attitude of his roommate made Caleb both irritable and intrigued, split between giving up and looking harder for a way in. He figured the task would've already been accomplished if he didn't have other projects going on in his life, and decided to accept the slower progress.

“What are you working on there, Jimmy Neutron?” Caleb asked one evening after he returned to their room to find his roommate in the exact some position he had been when Caleb had left.  
Will was furiously scribbling something on his notepad, occasionally glancing at either the open textbook next to him or his laptop screen. He didn't seem like he had heard the question.  
Caleb walked next to him, looking over the man's shoulder, not at all surprised that he was making incredibly detailed notes about the day's exercise. From the looks of it he had been doing that the entire time. To gain his attention, Caleb placed one had on the table next to Will's, leaning over him.  
The dark-haired man looked at the hand, then followed the arm up with his eyes until he met Caleb's gaze.  
“Isn't that enough for tonight?” Caleb asked. “How about you do something fun for a change?”  
“This is fun to me.” Will replied earnestly. He looked back at his papers again but didn't continue writing.  
“Still, there has to be something else you like doing, right?”  
Will nodded slowly, now placing the pencil down, seemingly resigned to the fact that he wouldn't be able to continue for as long as Caleb stood there. The blond-haired man waited for an answer but it didn't come, Will remained uneasy and staring down, it reminded Caleb of talking to a stubborn child who didn't want to eat their broccoli.

Caleb walked away, aware that the robot man was watching him. He went to the closet and took out training clothes, bringing Will's to his desk. The man looked at them and then dared to look up at Caleb again, questioning.  
“Do you wish me to give you and Shelby privacy once more?” He asked, piecing together the clues he had been handed.  
“What? No.” Caleb waved his hand dismissively. “How about you and I go for a run together? There's still time before curfew.”  
Caleb wasn't sure if he should be offended over the shocked look Will was giving him, but he tried to keep his own face neutral while waiting for the answer. Will looked at his clothes and his notes, Caleb could almost hear the little gears turning in the dark-haired man's head as his circuits worked overtime. Finally a decision was made, and Will looked up again.  
“I really must finish my work.” he said, studying Caleb's face quickly before he dropped his eyes again. After some hesitation he added: “I'm sorry.”  
Funny enough, it made Caleb feel rejected more than he had expected to. He said nothing, but as a point he left Will's clothes on the desk when he walked away.


	3. Infatuation

A day came when the class was assigned to figure out the Myers-Briggs personality types of their classmates. Caleb was given the file of one of the women in his class that he barely interacted with, so without a second thought he handed the file over to the trainee sitting next to him. He looked around, asking people who they got until he made his way to Shelby and Iris. They had the file Caleb had been searching for – Will's. The women didn't question him joining them, both seemingly relieved not to have to work on the file with just each other; there was clearly some tension between the two. Caleb wondered if Shelby was having as much hard time with Iris as he was with Will, but that was one thing that Shelby would need to handle on her own – Caleb wanted nothing to do with that sort of drama.

However Caleb didn't have anything to offer for the exercise, his only motivation for joining them had been to hear their verdict over Will's type; quietly hoping he'd get something useful out of the situation. The blond-haired man didn't even believe in these types, not bothering to even try and figure it out himself. Both of the women had their own opinions about him, but Iris seemed to be in close terms with Will and had certainly known him longer than either Caleb or Shelby had, so the man decided to trust Iris' judgment; she also seemed confident in it herself. Caleb took the sheet for himself long enough to read the type description of Will, making note of any clues that might be helpful in getting under the man's skin. Then he simply spent the rest of the class following the two women around and observing Will from a distance.

The field test was a drag, and Caleb hadn't really expected to pass it anyway so he wasn't bothered at all when the class returned from the trip.  
“So, what did you all decide on?” Caleb asked as he entered their shared room.  
Will was already by his desk as usual and looked up at the sudden noise, giving Caleb a confused frown.  
“For my type. You were analyzing me, what did you score me as?” the blond-haired one added, taking a seat.  
“Well, technically it's not a test so there is no scor---”  
“Yeah, okay. Who picked mine?”  
Will frowned again, displeased that he had been interrupted. “I did.”  
“You did.” Caleb repeated, watching as Will's attention started leaving him again. “What makes you so sure you are right?”  
“I'm good at analyzing people.” replied Will, turning the page on his book.  
“But not good with actually being with people.” It wasn't a question and Will didn't take it as such because he didn't say anything. Caleb sighed and decided to drop it for the evening.

\-------------------------------------

The following morning diverted from the usual pattern that they had fallen into. When handing out the socks to Will, the dark-haired man looked at him, freezing Caleb in place by the sheer unexpectedness of the look. What was even more confusing was that there was a wild look that crossed Will's eyes, like he was ready to snap at the taller man. The look was gone as fast as it had appeared, but the stare remained.   
“I am not good at being with people.” Will stated slowly, as if he had been thinking about it all night.  
Caleb waited for elaboration but when none seemed to be coming, he nodded.  
Will looked like he wanted to say something more, but instead he swallowed and nodded before averting his eyes again. He took the socks and walked off before Caleb could decide if he should push this or not. Had Will really looked excited just then or was it just his imagination? The blond-haired man watched as Will carefully avoided turning his way again until it was time to leave the room. 

In the following days Caleb realized that Will's words had been a peculiar way of accepting Caleb's offers of contact. Will no longer completely shut Caleb out, instead he'd put down his book if Caleb tried to talk to him and paid attention. The talks were short and shallow, mostly about whatever had been the task for the day or Caleb simply making remarks about Will's excessive studying. Whenever it was the latter, he'd grow exhausted quickly because Will would answer in earnest rather than go along with it, but there was progress being made. After each conversation, Caleb noticed that Will was more and more adaptive to his banter, not feeling the need to respond to every ill-advised nickname. It made the blond weirdly proud, and he felt his feelings for the other man grow with the progress.

Caleb came to notice more things about himself rather than his roommate – a slowly growing infatuation that was building toward the other man. He hadn't expected it but also wasn't overly surprised; Caleb had taken notice of the fact that Will was good-looking long before any other feeling had time to set in. Even if the robot man was peculiar and got on his nerves from time to time, Caleb had no ill will toward him and considered that maybe the constant thinking of the man was to blame for these developing feelings. Coming to terms with being increasingly attracted to the robot man was a quick process. Caleb was used to his feelings developing from vague dislike to infatuation, he had experienced it many times before and knew better than to fight it. Of course not every feeling of dislike evolved into affection, but when it did, Caleb embraced it. The feeling would either go away with time or grow, the blond-haired man could only wait and see which it was.

But the blond-haired had no intention of acting on any of them. He had already done that once in Quantico and he was still struggling with the turbulent results of his affair with Shelby, and as much as he cared for her, Caleb did not wish to complicate matters with a second person. Besides, Caleb was much too busy with handling everything that he needed to help Shelby with as well as managing his own private projects, he simply had no time for a second lover. The relationship with Will had progressed as far as it ever would. Or so Caleb thought that morning in the driving range, oblivious to the fact that by the evening he'd need to rethink his stance.


	4. Intimidation

Caleb was reading by his desk when he noticed Will walking in, his posture tense and eyes fixed on the blond-haired man. It made Will look even more artificial than what Caleb had become used to.  
“Oh hey, Mr. Robot.” He greeted in a lazy tone. “You heading to the Old Settler tonight with everybody?“  
Will stopped in the middle of the room, continuing to stare but at least his full attention was on the blond, which was unusual.  
“Me, I think I'm gonna sit this one out. But I ---” Caleb didn't get to finish, Will not only caught him off guard by interrupting but what he said also was something Caleb hadn't expected to hear from him – ever.   
“Are you Caleb Haas or Mark Raymond?”  
The sound of that alias made Caleb's heart skip a beat, and for a moment his head was void of all thoughts, all he could muster was a confused: “Excuse me?”  
Will raised his phone, angling the screen toward Caleb; the Facebook profile of Mark Raymond clearly visible on it.  
“This is you, but it's not you. It's Mark Raymond.” There was an almost manic look in the dark-haired man's eyes, but Caleb was still struggling to come to terms over what he was hearing and seeing.  
“Mark who?” He asked weakly, still hoping for an off-chance that it would turn out to be a weird hallucination. Will was quick to put those chances to rest by starting to list all the information that he had gathered, very thoroughly. 

When the trivia night seemed to be lasting for a while, Caleb stood up and slowly started walking toward Will. He looked at the phone that Will was clutching in his hand and momentarily thought about snatching it; he decided against it because the phone had nothing in it that wouldn't already be memorized in the robot man's circuits. Caleb's thoughts were racing as he tried to figure out how to handle this situation, Will finding out about his well-guarded secret was something Caleb hadn't been prepared for.  
In the absence of a better plan, the blond-haired man settled on intimidation tactic, slowly walking to Will while staring intently at his face; forcing the robot man to either stand his ground or back off. Like Caleb predicted Will started moving back when Caleb got close enough, maintaining a steady distance between them. Will's eyes darted up an down, looking unsure but still the man didn't stop talking and eventually he settled on staring right back into Caleb's eyes. It was a bad sign to Caleb, meaning that Will was less likely to let the matter go.

The dark-haired man's back hit the wall, forcing him to a halt and Caleb stopped right in front of him. Will's rambling seemed to be finally coming to a close, so the taller man took it as his turn to speak up.  
“I don't care what you think that you found, but you will not mess this up for me.“ His voice was low and insistent. “Do you understand?”  
Will just looked at him in a wordless state of bewilderment, so Caleb stepped closer, bringing his entire body into Will's personal space. The robot man went stiff like he was trying his hardest to pretend he was part of the wall but he made no move to push Caleb away or flee. The blond-haired man wasn't that easily deterred and remained confident that he could turn the situation around to his advantage. He leaned his body against Will's, gracing the man's cheek with his own; refusing to acknowledge in the moment that Will smelled rather nice up close.  
“Tell me that you understand.” His tone left no room for error, this was the only option out of the situation. Will swallowed hard, and when he finally spoke his voice was quiet and sounded weak. His breath on Caleb's neck made the taller man wish these were different circumstances.   
“I understand.”  
Caleb pulled away from the man, giving him one final stern look before entering the bathroom – more done out of unwillingness to turn his back on Will than anything else. The robot man seemed unable to move, looking lost and slightly frightened. That was a good sign. 

Caleb cursed under his breath, leaning against the inside of the bathroom door. Things had been going so well in all aspects, so why did the robot man have to go and ruin it by sticking his nose where it didn't belong? Caleb was angry at himself for not noticing that Will was onto him, and that he himself hadn't covered his tracks well enough to stop it from happening. He blamed himself for being so invested in getting to amicable terms with the robot man that he had become too careless and maybe even let Will get too close, causing him to suspect something. 

Now he had to come up with something and in the meantime hope he was threatening enough to keep Will in check – that shouldn't be too much of problem. When Caleb came out again, he found Will in the exact same spot, clutching his phone. He looked like he wanted directions on what to do next, but didn't meet Caleb's eyes.  
Caleb reached out and took the phone from his hand, which Will gave no resistance to. The blond-haired man looked at his fake profile, closing it and then tossing Will's phone toward his bed; the dark-haired man's eyes followed as it bounced on the bed.  
“On second thought.” Caleb started, drawing Will's attention right back on him. “You should skip on Old Settler tonight as well.”  
Will said nothing but it was enough to make the man move to his desk. Caleb ignored him until it was time for him to go meet up with Samar, confident that he had properly intimidated Will.


	5. Irritation

“Please Caleb,” he pleaded, “don't leave me alone.”  
“We are getting out of here together.” Caleb grasped the other man's hand, attempting to pull him toward the exit that didn't seem to be getting any closer no matter how long they walked. Caleb forced himself to run and finally reached the door only to turn around and find Ross gone from his side. He seemed to be miles away standing alone in the darkness with his hand held out and surrounded by Sistematics goons; he kept pleading for Caleb to come back but his voice was getting weaker. The blond-haired man cursed himself got having let go and tried to go back to him but couldn't move an inch, instead a hand appeared on his shoulder and pulled him through the door without Ross.

Caleb woke up in cold sweat, having experienced some troubling dreams. They weren't uncommon, he often had dreams of helplessness when he was stressed and they mostly focused on his inability to help those he cared about. For years his dreams had heavily featured his best friend Ross, always hopeless and begging not to be left behind. As if those weren't already plenty to have to deal with, the memories of what happened with Eric had crept up in the blond-haired man's dreams frequently; not to even mention that his parents had a way of showing up from time to time as well. Not pleasant experiences and waking up with all those fresh images in his mind, Caleb was certain to be irritable for the better part of the day.

It didn't help that he had laid awake for a long time the previous night, deep in thought over everything he could've done to prevent Will from getting wind about Caleb's second identity. He knew it was already too late to lament over that and blamed himself for being careless, but he also failed to understand why Will had been so observant to figure out something like it when no one else had. Caleb had also tried to come up with a solid plan to make sure the dark-haired man wouldn't mess things up, and after figuring out several possible outcomes to different approaches, he was feeling confident again. If there was one thing Caleb trusted himself to do it was to always land on his feet when life threw something unexpected his way. He let out a deep sigh as he looked at his clock and realized it was almost time to get up; Caleb allowed himself lie in bed for a moment longer, covering his eyes with his arm.

Will was already up and by his dresser when Caleb forced himself out of bed. The taller man had decided that it was time to show his roommate the cold shoulder, so that morning he stopped what had become their usual routine.  
“Ah, the old sock debacle.” he commented coolly, passing Will on his way to the bathroom. That already seemed to be effective enough since Will had moved by the time Caleb came out; either he had gotten the message or he wanted to avoid Caleb as well. The exact motivation for Will's actions didn't matter to the blond-haired man, as long as he realized who was the one in charge. Caleb pictured himself as a territorial cave man throwing rocks to keep an intrusive robot man from the future out of his metaphorical cave of secrets; not a pretty picture but it seemed necessary. However Caleb couldn't help but to feel saddened about the new development, he had grown to enjoy the more friendly interactions with Will – maybe too much since he was willing to give the robot man the benefit of a doubt still.

The unexpected clash of the previous night along with the information he had received from Samar made Caleb even more irritable for the day than what the dreams usually called for. He found himself trying to keep some distance from Shelby, aware that his mood might make him snap at her and wanting to protect her feelings from that. If Caleb was going to come clear to her about what Samar's envelope held inside of it, she'd have tough emotional times ahead of her, she certainly didn't need any more stress before that. Sadly Shelby had picked the same day to be observant, catching him in the hallway and noting Caleb had neglected to visit her the previous night. Her tone was higher than usual, like it was when she tried to be nonchalant but was trying to pry information if there was something going on. Caleb tried to brush it off, but found himself incapable of making small talk and excused himself quickly from her company. He knew it would bother her, and throughout the morning practice Caleb kept spotting her looking at him – she wasn't exactly discreet about it.

On top of it all it seemed like the day was going to get tougher and tougher, first his mother made a surprise appearance in class and then Caleb was paired with Will and Iris for the day's assignment. Both of these made the blond-haired man want to groan and just return to bed until this bad dream was over, but there was no other option but to endure it. Iris was her usual unashamed, flirty self but it wasn't enough to cheer Caleb up. The three got a table together, laying out the files and papers all over it and got to work. Caleb slumped against the desk and felt no interest in the case they were working on, but luckily his attitude didn't seem to alarm Iris at all.  
“If the victim says that he's not gay, then how could it be discrimination?” the blond-haired man asked when the trio couldn't come to agreement over their case.  
“Because he was attacked for his perceived sexuality. He wasn't gay.” Iris explained.  
“But they believed he was gay, that's why they jumped him.” Interjected Will from the other side of the table, for once looking up from his laptop screen. The dark-haired man seemed to be directing his attention to Iris but then finished with: “It's important to get to the core truth of a person.” Catching Caleb's eye as if he wanted to make sure his message was received. Caleb didn't justify it with a response, and for the rest of the time the robot man seemed content in simply focusing on the task at hand, immediately moving on to show what he had typed up about the case and discussing statistics. He was weirdly keen on solving the case while Iris stepped away to use the bathroom, but Caleb didn't think much of it at the time. It would soon be yet one more moment where Caleb came to regret this relapse in judgment.


	6. Invasion

When Caleb walked into the classroom he immediately knew something was wrong. He had barely stepped in when he already witnessed clearly distressed Shelby running out of the room with Iris calling after her. Sighing, Caleb stopped Iris from going after the blonde and asked her about the situation; once again experiencing the frustrating shock of being caught off-guard when Iris revealed that she had shown the envelope to Shelby that the blonde woman wasn't meant to see anytime soon. This time he didn't even have time to think about a strategy when alarms suddenly started blaring and the building went into lockdown. The trainees were told to lay low and wait it out, but Caleb already knew he couldn't do that. 

He blamed Iris for causing this situation, he blamed Will for telling Iris, and he blamed himself for being careless even after Will had presented himself as too observant to be comfortable around. He really should've hidden the envelope better. The silver lining was that Iris seemed to feel guilty as well, not protesting when Caleb told her to be a distraction while he slipped out to look for Shelby. While he was leaving the room, Caleb was stopped by a sudden hand grabbing his arm and a whisper: “Hey, I'm coming with you.”  
Caleb turned to see Will right behind him, holding his jacket and looking decisive.  
“The campus is in lock-down. All the perimeter doors are locked.“ He said before Caleb could refuse him. “You need someone who knows all the shortcuts.”  
Caleb didn't have time to question why Will knew all the shortcuts, and he certainly had no time to argue with the man so he simply nodded, and the two left the classroom together.

Will immediately started leading Caleb and was able to get them both outside without being stopped by anyone. As soon the cold winter air hit Caleb's face, he turned around to face Will.  
“Thanks. Now go back to class.” He ordered.  
“I would think not, I'm coming with you to find her.” The robot man replied without a second of hesitation.  
“Listen, Will...” Caleb started, desperate and in a hurry, he had no time to argue this with the robot man but he certainly didn't want Will to tag along.  
Before Will could make his counterargument two shots were heard; they seemed to be echoing all over making it hard to pinpoint the origin direction. There was no more time to waste, Caleb took the lead and hurried toward the woods. He didn't have any idea where Shelby could've gone, their only option was to wander around and hope they'd happen to find her and not run into someone far more dangerous.  
“Should we split up?” Will asked, jogging effortlessly just a few steps after Caleb.  
“No!” Caleb snapped, his tone harsher than he intended but he was not going to negotiate about this. The blond-haired man wasn't going to let Will go off on his own, then he'd have to worry about two people instead of one and that would impair his ability to function even more. It really would've been better if he could've convinced the shorter man to stay indoors, then Caleb would've at least known one of the people he cared about was safe.  
“Just... Just stay behind me and keep your eyes open.” Caleb said, softer and Will nodded in response. 

Searching for Shelby was difficult since the pair couldn't call out to her, so they were just forced to aimlessly run around hoping to find her. They didn't talk, just ran and both looked around for any traces of the missing woman as well as signs of the attackers. Surprisingly it didn't take long for Caleb to spot faint movement behind a nearby tree, realizing someone was crouched behind it. He signaled for Will to stop, and then started advancing toward the tree slowly. Caleb kept his arm extended toward Will, ordering him with his body language and eyes to stay behind him still even though Will followed in his footsteps. Caleb was frantically trying to think of a battle plan in case it turned out to be one of the attackers, hoping he could disarm them before they could harm Will. Fortunately there was no need for such plans as the person turned out to be Shelby, still clutching the letter. Caleb let out a sigh of relief and embraced her, apologizing as he did. All of his attention was focused on Shelby in the moment, but Will had remained alert – he soon hushed both of them to get low just in time to avoid being seen by a passing armed man.

The three watched as the man with the gun walked slowly through the forest, unaware of their presence. They had no choice, they had to go the same way as the man or else they'd be trapped in the woods. Caleb motioned the other two to follow him, taking the lead as they started cautiously moving in the same direction while keeping their eyes on the threat. Suddenly they realized there were more people in the woods, Liam among others and he had been spotted by the gunman. Caleb made a quick decision, turning briefly to hiss at Will: “Stay with her” before he started hurrying toward Liam in effort to warn him. From there on the situation dissolved quickly thanks to Drew showing up at the right moment.

The situation was taken under control and Liam briefly chastised Caleb, Will and Shelby for coming outside before telling them to get back. Shelby, still shaken both over the news about her parents and the shooting, clung to Caleb's side as she walked. Will had offered to carry her but she had politely declined, insisting that she was fine even though she was trembling the entire time. Caleb had his arm around her but he said nothing, deciding it was best to let her calm down before trying to discuss anything. Will walked by his other side, occasionally looking at Shelby with a concerned look. Caleb caught his eye and nodded, unable to voice his appreciation for his roommate's help at the time. He wasn't sure if Will understood it, because he simply averted his eyes. 

\------------------------------------

Having been taking care of Shelby for the rest of the day and accompanying her to see Samar, Caleb felt exhausted as he returned to his room late in the evening. He wasn't surprised to see Will still up, but this time he looked to have been specifically waiting for the blond-haired man instead of just stuffing his circuits with more statistics.  
“Is Shelby okay?” the man asked as soon as Caleb closed the door behind him.  
“Can you be after finding something like that out?” Caleb asked back, sighing. The concerned look on Will's face didn't go away but he seemed to be giving Caleb space, turning his focus back on the open laptop in front of him. Caleb sat down on his bed, resisting the urge to just crash immediately face first into the pillow.

“I never.. thanked you for helping me find Shelby today.” The blond-haired man said, knowing he should do something to reassure his roommate.  
“It was my fault she ran away.” Will replied instantly, obviously really believing it. “If I hadn't told Iris what I did, none of this would have ever happened.”  
Caleb was already beyond blaming either Will or Iris for what happened, but hearing Will be so worried made him feel curiously better about how everything unfolded.  
“Yeah, well, maybe it was time that she found out.” he said, deciding that it was as close as he could come to telling Will that he forgave him for it.  
“Maybe...” the dark-haired man started after a brief silence. “..it's time you tell me who Mark Raymond is?”  
Caleb looked up, his roommate had a questioning look to him but looked more hopeful than demanding. The blond-haired man considered for a moment to just tell him again that it wasn't his business, but the day had left him feeling defeated. 

“What do you want to know?” Caleb asked instead, making a split second decision that this could be more help than harm. If he wouldn't tell Will, wouldn't the man just look until he found out anyway?  
Will started to smile but then seemed to think it inappropriate and contained himself, closing his laptop so he could focus completely on Caleb.  
“Everything.” was Will's earnest response. The blond-haired man half-expected Will to bring out a notebook and pen instead so he could make notes of every dark secret Caleb would share with him.  
“Any of what I'm going to tell you can't leave this room, do you understand?” he asked.  
Will nodded vigorously and Caleb told him everything.


	7. Inconvenience

Telling Will had removed a weight from Caleb's shoulders, he didn't need to worry about the man finding out his secret any longer. Still he wasn't sure if Will would tell someone or not; he hoped the man wouldn't and Will had agreed to keep all of it as a secret but Caleb remained cautious. He figured that he had done the best he could for now and rest would need to be seen out in time. For the time being there was something more urgent to deal with: Reading Samar's letter had taken a peculiar effect on Shelby, and Caleb was one of the ones that had to deal with the consequences of it. She was moody but hellbent on ignoring any hurt that the reveal about her parents and Samar had caused her. Caleb wanted to be there for her and support her through it, but he knew it was difficult with her being like that.

One morning he woke to find Shelby naked, crawling under his blanket and telling him to keep quiet so they wouldn't wake Will. He knew he should tell her to stop and that this wasn't a good way to process her emotions – again – but he had never been good at that when she was doings things to him. So Caleb rolled his head back, careful to keep himself quiet, but his eyes would instinctively land on Will from time to time. Watching the dark-haired man sleep – utterly oblivious to what was happening in the same room as him – gave Caleb conflicted feelings. He wasn't a man who pictured other people while with someone, but seeing Will made the images pop into his head even when he tried to push them back; would Will show the same level of persistence as he showed in class?

When Shelby left Caleb took a shower, trying to figure out how he'd get himself on more stable ground again. He had to help her, but he just didn't know what would be the best course of action. He never seemed to know when it came to her, everything else was less complicated. When he walked out the shower, Caleb found his other problem, Will, studying on his own bed.  
“Dude, what did I tell you about studying before 9:00 a.m.” Caleb huffed, still feeling bit weird about thinking of the robot man earlier.  
Will let his text book fall on his lap, holding up the Sistemics book instead. He smirked just a little bit, obviously having waited for the opportunity to pull that move. The robot man was making progress with human humor, on a better day that would've made Caleb almost proud; he rolled his eyes but couldn't deny that maneuver was sort of endearing.  
“Why are you reading that?” He asked, wondering when the man had even gotten the book. “I already told you everything that you need to know.”  
“No.” the dark-haired man got up, holding the book in front of him. Caleb rolled his eyes again, blaming himself for bringing it up because there the trivia night went again, full force.  
“You told me how you created an alter ego to sneak back in and how you promised them money in order to rise through the levels faster and how you're secretly working from within to take it all down, but there is so much more!” Will came to a halt in the middle of the room, holding the book with both hands like it was his guide in life all of a sudden. “Like how they kidnap people and send them to farms in foreign countries or how their money comes from owning the patent to podcasting or how they believe that our skin is poisonous.”  
Caleb let him talk uninterrupted, putting on his shirt and his best 'I am interested' face.  
“You think what I'm doing is crazy?” the taller man asked once Will was done.  
“No, I think it's dangerous and cool.” replied Will with an excited air around him. “And I'd love to talk about it for five to seven minutes.”  
Caleb couldn't really grasp the 'cool' part of what he had gotten himself into, but he wasn't about to get into a debate about it now. He took the book from his roommate, ignoring the ridiculously hopeful and strangely endearing look on his face.  
“Yeah. Maybe later.” Caleb tossed the book toward Will's bed (half-expecting to see him sprint after it) and left the room before the other could protest.

Later on Caleb tried to get Shelby to talk, but like always she simply ignored his attempts and Caleb became weak to her suggestions, determined to forget about the mental images from that morning. He decided to work one problem at a time, and today would be a Shelby day. She was having one of her more hyper moods, acting like a cheerleader but then becoming moody; she was spinning more and more out of control by the minute. But Will was looking for Caleb's attention as well.  
“Look, Sistemics' IRS filings!” Will bounced in front of him, holding his phone screen to Caleb's face and not letting Caleb past him.  
“Hey! Now is not a good time!” Caleb shushed, pulling Will to the side, away from the other trainees in the training room. Like always, Will was completely oblivious to the social cues of the situation.  
“To be tax-exempt, an organization must be operated so that none of its earnings inure to a private individual.” he recited, making Caleb nod along mostly out of habit. “But it looks like the head of the church, Daniel Berlin, bought a yacht--”  
“Danny Berlin isn't the head of the church - Hugh Warren is.” Caleb corrected him.  
“Or was. Berlin replaced him last month.”  
“Where did you see that?” Caleb frowned, having heard nothing about this. Will held up his phone again with the confirmation.  
“Danny knows me.” Caleb said, but Will didn't seem to understand what that meant so he added: “The minute that he sees Mark Raymond, he's gonna recognize me.”  
Understanding dawned on the robot man's face, but they didn't have time to talk about it more when Caleb was called away.

Shelby tried to skip on the exercise, neglecting the importance of it completely as he dragged Caleb to the side with her and immediately slipped her hand in his pants. Normally Caleb would've tried to guide her to a more sensible direction using gentle persuasion, but this time he was annoyed by the news Will had delivered and something in the way she giggled today just got to him – he ended up bluntly asking what was wrong with her. She, of course, took offense to that and simply huffed, telling him that she liked it better when he was more fun. Caleb sighed, knowing he'd have to pay for this later.


	8. Interruption

“It's a crisis I can guarantee you've never encountered, one at 30,000 feet.“  
The sight of the see-through practice cabin could not have come at a worse time. Shelby had been unhinged the entire day, leading Caleb to worry this would just serve to push her over the edge. He looked at her, but she gave no immediate signs of crumbling. As the trainees made their way to their seats in the airplane, Caleb wondered if this was deliberate act by the administration or just fate's cruel irony. The class was forced to sit in their seats, watching as their fellow trainees failed one after another. After Caleb and Shelby's turn, she turned aggressive and insisted that she was done being pushed around and needed this win. When Caleb wasn't immediately on board with her, she left him for a better partner; Caleb didn't even try to stop her this time, thinking that if he did she might shut him out completely. Despite the situation being on a fast track to disaster Caleb had no choice but to let it play out.

After countless failed attempts only Shelby and Alex tried to force the exercise to a win, but even their joined effort didn't work. Caleb watched as Shelby tried talking the terrorist down, reducing herself to tears in desperation. The blond-haired man couldn't help but to wonder if the situation was worse because Shelby knew her parents were alive, or if she had held up this long before breaking because of that.

Caleb wished there was a way to turn back time. Just few days earlier things had been going well, he had been on his way to infiltrate Sistemics with ease, Shelby had been stable and relatively happy and things were going well with Will. But now Caleb was unable to advance in his plan because of the change in head of the church, and Shelby was even worse after the latest exercise. He sat with her for an hour after the exercise but she didn't want to talk, looking like she was about to come to pieces if she said a word. Caleb didn't have anything he could say to her to make her feel better, so when Will and Iris brought Alex to talk to her, Caleb felt guilty over taking the chance at an exit with gratitude.

Will was hovering in the hallway with Iris, they both looked apathetic. The blond-haired man closed Shelby's door behind him, nodding to both of them in appreciation. Iris gave him a quick reassuring squeeze on the arm. She turned to leave and looked at Will but he shook his head slightly. Iris looked at both them once ore before walking away, finding some place else to wait until Alex was done.  
“Caleb, are you...” Will started awkwardly when Iris was far enough, from the looks of it not sure himself what he wanted to say.   
The taller man appreciated the effort, guessing that if this had been couple weeks ago Will wouldn't have made it. Still Caleb didn't feel like talking about it and he told the man so as he walked past Will to get to their room.  
Will lingered in the hallway, obviously unsure if he should give Caleb space or not. The taller man solved that puzzle for him by leaving the door open until Will entered, both the moving to take a seat in their own sides of the room in silence. Caleb felt numb, unable to do anything or even think properly. He hated being in situations where he had no control over them, and couldn't help but to feel like he was letting people he cared about down – it was beginning to be too much.

The dark-haired man let Caleb be for a while, but Caleb knew he'd eventually have to talk to the man. He had just hoped Will would read the situation a little better and let him have his silence for a while longer, so when he heard Will get up and come to view, Caleb sighed.  
“This isn't just about Shelby Wyatt.” he noted carefully.  
“Hey, man, I don't... I don't want to talk about this.” Caleb sputtered, his tone pleading and defeated. “You know, I-I already told you that.”  
“Well, if you want to take down Sistemics, there are other ways!” countered Will quickly. “Tell me why you're after them. Let me help.”  
His tone had a hint of worry in it and he sounded serious about it, so Caleb considered his options. He had already told this man quite a lot about his project, so why not just tell him the rest of it? Maybe it was his defeated mood or a lapse in judgment, but Caleb decided to confide in the robot man once more.  
“I'm on a rescue mission.” he said, sighing.  
“Who are you trying to rescue?” Will asked without missing a beat, shifting from one foot to another.   
“Ross Edwards.” The name obviously didn't say anything to Will, who only looked at Caleb, seemingly trying his hardest not to immediately ask who that was.  
“He's my best friend.” Caleb continued. “We joined together, and then a few months after, my dad pulled me out. Ross tried to leave, too, but they wouldn't let him.”  
The matter was still something that was hard to discuss for Caleb and he avoided doing so, blaming himself for not acting sooner. He should've made his father take Ross out too, not just him.  
“Nobody ever heard from him again. He just disappeared.” Caleb sighed sadly. “You don't understand what Sistemics will do to hold on to a person. So I need to find him. I need to get him out if he's even still alive.”  
Will hadn't said a word, but he was still looking at Caleb and seemed to be processing the information given to him.   
“And in order to do that, I have to meet with the head of the church, and it's hopeless if that's Dan Berlin 'cause he'll know that I'm me and then...” Caleb trailed off, unable to finish the thought. He couldn't help the wave of guilt from hitting him again, knowing that he had let Ross down not once but twice. “Then he'll just throw me right out.”  
“This doesn't have to be your Kobayashi Maru.” Will finally spoke, determined expression on his face. “There's another way.”  
There was a short moment where the two men just looked at each other, Will looking peculiarly excited and Caleb simply staring blankly back at him. It dawned on Caleb that maybe Will was expecting him to give a go ahead for whatever the robot man was planning to say, but before he could, Iris appeared in the doorway telling Caleb that he should come check on Shelby.


	9. Initiation

It was hours later when Caleb was able to return to his room, waving his hand dismissively at Will as the man instantly wanted his attention. He knew he'd have to hear whatever the guy had in store for him sooner or later, but at the moment Caleb preferred later. He took a long shower, standing under the hot water until it started to feel like it was washing away his worries and slowly making him feel little less beaten than before. Caleb felt grateful to Alex, whatever she had said to Shelby had helped her out from her torpor – which was something Caleb hadn't been able to do – and now she wasn't completely in pieces any longer. Caleb wondered if things would have turned differently if Alex's help had been utilized since the beginning, she obviously had some sort of talent for giving Shelby something Caleb couldn't. 

Caleb came out of the shower feeling more relaxed and was able to get dressed before Will appeared.  
“Can I have your attention now? I have someone I need you to meet.” he opened, making Caleb sigh under his breath.  
“Danger, Will Olsen! You know--” Caleb wasn't able to finish that quip.  
“I'd like to introduce myself.” There was something different in the tone of his voice, forcing Caleb to turn around so he could really look at his roommate.  
“My name is John Baskin.” the robot man extended his hand to a greeting, but all the blond-haired man could do was gawk. “I guess it's time to stop being scared of the Sistem.”  
When Caleb made no move to grab the hand, Will let out a light chuckle and pulled his hand away, completely unfazed by Caleb's refusal to shake it.  
“You know, we're the same, you and me.” he gestured between them before crossing his arms casually over his chest. “I was on the stairs, afraid to ascend to the next level...”  
His tone was confident and body language was different from what Caleb had grown accustomed to, it was all too much so the taller man had to put a stop to this after the initial shock wore off.  
“Dude, you're... you're freaking me out!” He admitted with an alarmed tone.   
“What? Why? I-I'm just acting.” Will hurried to explain, the confidence visibly washing away from his posture as he became defensive and confused.   
“Look, I-I used to mimic people as a kid since I'm not good at social cues. I still study them today.”  
The dark-haired man turned on his heels after the last sentence, moving to close the door and then opened up his dresser drawer.

“Come here.” he requested as he started taking all his socks out of the drawer. Utterly lost and confused over the situation, Caleb couldn't think of anything else but to do as he was told to and joined Will by the dresser. What he saw confused Caleb even more, the bottom of the drawer revealed photos of all the trainees in their joined class, with nearly all of them having been crossed out with a red marker. In all honesty it gave a little bit of a serial killer vibe to Caleb, but he didn't have time to remark on it before Will spoke again.  
“See? It's It's how I get to know people.” Will explained, taking out the marker and proceeding to cross out Caleb. It looked even more sinister to the blond-haired man to see it happen. He walked away from the dresser, both to get some distance between them and to try and wrap his head around what this all meant without having to stare at the photos. Had Will's sudden interest in him been just because a sock drawer had told him to be interested in Caleb?  
“And I couldn't figure you out, but... All right, anyway, so I've been studying some Sistemics videos--”  
“Wh-what what, why would you do that? What..?” Caleb felt really intelligent interrupting Will like that, but the situation was leaving him with no time to figure itself out and his roommate just kept giving him more confusion with each word.  
“So I could help you go undercover.” Will slightly shrugged as he said that, like it was supposed to be obvious. “Help you find your friend.”  
“I-I-I appreciate that, but we're... we're talking about very dangerous people here.” Caleb said back, frowning at the proposal that Will was making. “I-I can't ask you to risk your life--”  
“But you're not asking, I'm volunteering!” Will rushed to interrupt and Caleb simply stared at him.

“Okay, look, when I was nine I lost my sister in a car accident, and she could have lived, but my father wouldn't let the hospital give her a blood transfusion.” the dark-haired man explained, rolling his eyes briefly as he added in contempt: “He's a Christian scientist.”  
Caleb didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing, letting Will finish.   
“Let's just say I'm not very fond of institutions that hurt the people who believe in them.” the man said, his face solemn and tone determined. “And I'm not scared of them, either.”  
The taller man was slowly processing everything Will was telling him, registering that the other man had some pain from the past that made him absolutely willing to help in something like this. Everything he had said until that point seemed sincere, and if past experiences had taught Caleb anything about Will, he was persistent to a fault.   
“All righty, then.” He said slowly. “John.”  
Smile broke out on Will's face and he extended his hand again – this time the taller man shook it. 

What followed next was Will introducing himself again as John Baskin, now Caleb let him get through the entire speech, watching in fascination. The taller man got goosebumps from the experience, it was surreal to see the robot man act so human and so normal that it seemed abnormal coming from Will. He wanted to tell Will several times that he was creeped out or that he should to stop, but Caleb endured; talking to the man like they were meeting for the first time. The taller man had already started figuring out how this could work out, and once more he felt hopeful that rescuing Ross could become a reality sometime soon.


	10. Influence

Because things were going remarkably well with Will, Caleb decided he could start to get other affairs in order – and by that he meant Shelby's affairs. He went ahead and started arranging for her to meet with her parents, despite her saying she wasn't sure about it. Caleb wanted her to move on, for better or for worse, and he knew it would take too long (or wouldn't happen at all) if he left it up to her. He just needed to put things in motion and find an optimal time to make the reunion happen, getting Shelby to go along with them would be the easier part. Part of him kept nagging in the back of his mind that he should let Shelby handle her own affairs, but how could he when he had driven her into half of them?

Having Will on board with the Sistemics project had considerably elevated Caleb's mood; now it once again seemed like there was a chance that the plan would work. He had always been confident in his own abilities and sure that he could handle affairs such as this one alone, but Caleb had come to admit to himself – but would refuse to say it – that he would be completely lost now without Will. The only worry he had was his roommate's safety, which he wanted to keep as a priority. The robot man was risking a dangerous situation just because Caleb needed the help, and that was something Caleb would never want to forget, not even for a second. The last thing he needed was to let another person down.   
Caleb watched as Will did push-ups at the gym, using only one arm like always. He recalled looking at similar display multiple times before, always feeling impressed by the strength this man possessed and occasionally indulging himself by wondering how easily Will could lift Caleb; these thoughts usually went close to being actual fantasies so Caleb did his best to keep them to a minimum. 

This time the blond-haired man only thought about how much he wanted to make sure that no matter what, Will would be still doing those push-ups in two months. He also worried about Will backing out, which would put Caleb straight into square one again, but the other part of him wouldn't blame the dark-haired man if he chose to do so. They would need to make sure the plan was absolutely foolproof to maximize the safety of it. That was where Will's eye for details came in handy, the man was meticulous over everything he set his mind into and this seemed to be no exception. Will had instantly started more openly researching Sistemics, and asked Caleb lots of questions about his time with the cult. Some of the points Will brought up were things Caleb had never even heard about, because he himself hadn't investigated that deep into Sistemics' inner workings. Caleb briefly worried that all the research might lead to Will idolizing Sistemics, but Will assured him that it would not happen. The blond-haired man just tried making sure that Will knew some of the information he was gathering might be false, to make sure he was prepared for that as a possibility. 

The two started rehearsals at Will's suggestion, making Will run through mock meetings as John and answer as the new persona would. Caleb would act as someone higher up from Sistematics, grilling John over every detail on why he wanted to join, they had become more careful ever since they had started receiving more and more spies trying to get in. On other occasions Caleb would assume the identity of Mark Raymond – it had also been Will's idea – so that John could build a believable relationship with Mark as the two were supposed to be friends. Will had reasoned that he'd get a better feel for his character if they knew what sort of chemistry Mark and John had, and Caleb simply admired how seriously Will was taking it. Caleb found it amusing how little difference there was between his own alter-ego and himself, while Will and John were completely different in mannerisms and speech patterns. Caleb could have gone through an entire day in Quantico as Mark without anyone noticing anything, but Will would've instantly raised suspicion; Caleb even envied that from Will a little bit, the man could have real future in undercover work. 

\-----------

“Caleb.” Will called out as soon as the blond-haired man entered the room. He was sitting by his computer, looking excited as he gestured the other man to come see his screen. Caleb joined him, leaning closer to see the newly created Facebook profile.  
“I added selected details about John Baskin and sent Mark Raymond a friend request. You should accept it in case they will want to check their connection.” Will said while pointing around the screen with his finger.   
Caleb couldn't help but to smile, patting the robot man's shoulder in congratulatory manner before reaching over him to grab the mouse so he could scroll over the profile. He leaned halfway in front of Will, blocking his view and despite the dark-haired man pulling back a little bit as Caleb moved, the latter still brushed against him. The way Will cleared his throat amused Caleb, so even after he concluded that Will had done his part diligently like always, Caleb stayed in the position for a moment longer pretending to read the same information twice. He focused on the way Will's fingertips moved against the table, the man obviously not sure if he should pull his hand away from under Caleb's side or not. 

Caleb looked over his shoulder, making Will jump in surprise because their faces were closer than the dark-haired man had expected. He looked slightly flustered, which Caleb found to be endearing so he smiled wider reflexively.  
“Looks perfect. I'd friend John.” he commented.  
“I'd advice you not do that, else they might find Caleb Haas' semblance to be strikingly similar to Mark Raymond and that would endanger the entire operation.” Will warned without a hint of jest.  
“Relax, rocket man, I was just complimenting you.” Caleb laughed, rolling his eyes.  
“Oh. Thank you.” Will responded, nodding.  
Caleb kept looking at him, noticing the way Will's eyes flickered away from his but then came back, like he was working his hardest to keep the contact up. The robot man licked his lips in passing and Caleb wondered what sort of reaction would he get if he kissed Will right there and then. He wanted to try it, maybe even longed for it, but the moment passed when Will reminded him that Mark should accept the friend request as soon as possible.


	11. Incentive

The little trip to Canada had both positive and negative results; on the positive side Caleb was finally sure about what sort of people Shelby's parents were and he had managed to convince them to stay away from her without her suspecting anything. It still killed him a little inside when he watched her excitedly plan a next meet-up, but he knew it was for the best to let her live with the illusion of caring parents. The negative side was that Caleb had used the money he had reserved for Sistematics to fend of her parents and that meant he had to do something else – asking his father was out of the question. The first step was to let Will in on the plan change, so after breakfast Caleb went to look for the robot man, guessing he'd be in their room when he wasn't in Iris' company. 

The blond-haired man found Will dressed in a suit, his eyes fixated on a little mirror propped on his desk as he moved strands of hair from one place to another with one hand, and held a passport in another. Coming closer made Caleb realize the passport was fake, the one Will had made for John Baskin but then failed to cross the border with it.  
“The money for Sistemics is gone, so we have to find another way in.” Caleb said, leaning on the table to better look at the passport. It seemed really convincing, quick glance would have fooled almost anyone.  
“Well, they already scheduled my intake meeting. I'll use my own money.” replied Will, not at all fazed or even asking where the money had gone.   
“No, they'll trace it back to you.” Caleb shook his head.  
“No, they won't.” Will immediately shot back, now finished with his hair; to Caleb it didn't look any different from normal. “I'll put it in a safety deposit box at the same bank you were using.”  
“You really want to help, don't you?” It wasn't a question, but Caleb was impressed by the level of dedication Will was putting in the effort. He was a good man, and Caleb wondered if he was doing the right thing by pulling him into this even deeper – now causing Will to use his own money for Caleb's sake.  
Will finished tying his tie that had hung loose around his neck until then, and straightened his posture. He evened out the wrinkles in his jacket with his hands, and then looked at Caleb, expecting a comment.  
Caleb appraised him for a moment, lost in thoughts about how nicely Will cleaned up and how impressive he looked in a suit. The man was always neat to begin with so a suit, even if this was more casual look, was very fitting on him and didn't seem the least bit jarring.  
“You look good.” the blond-haired man said finally, smiling slightly.   
“They won't suspect me?” Will confirmed, looking over his own appearance and holding the passport photo out for Caleb to see.  
“No, you look good.” he assured, taking one more appreciative look before adding: “...John.”

The blond-haired man was sure he saw Will get flustered, which made Caleb smile more and he once again thought about kissing Will; toying with the idea had become more frequent the more they did this. Rehearsing had been necessary to test out how convincing John would be, but Caleb had grown to have more personal interest in their sessions. He enjoyed watching as Will changed himself to a person with different mannerism and vocabulary, and Caleb knew if he had been introduced to John instead of Will he wouldn't have suspected a thing. However jarring the change had been the first few times, Caleb had quickly grown to admire it and started noticing even the subtler differences between Will Olsen and John Baskin. The way John spoke sounded much more relaxed than Will's and John seemed to have a better posture, carrying himself with confidence. Something that really took Caleb by surprise was that John didn't seem to have any issues holding eye contact, which had been a primary concern of his that Will's shiftiness would tip Sistemics off. 

“How come you can keep looking at me when you're John?” Caleb asked after they were done, as Will's eyes dropped from his when he was free to go out of character.   
“I'm just acting.” answered Will, glancing back at the other man.  
“Yeah I know, but how come you don't do that all the time then?”  
“I don't consider it to be necessary.”  
“Wouldn't it be easier?” Caleb questioned, slowly walking closer to the other man.   
Will considered the question for a moment, not moving from his spot in the center of the room. “It's plausible.” he finally admitted, making Caleb roll his eyes.  
“You can be really difficult to talk with, did you know that?” Caleb held up his hand when Will opened his mouth. “It was rhetorical question.”  
Will frowned at him but said nothing, only watching as Caleb came to a halt in front of him. The blond-haired man made it easier for his roommate by dropping his gaze from his eyes and focusing on Will's tie. Caleb started untying it with calculated, slow movements. Will remained perfectly still but Caleb saw and heard him swallow hard. The urge to kiss him returned and Caleb didn't dare to look Will in the eyes, unsure if he could resist the urge if he saw even a hint of invitation in them. 

Caleb pulled the tie off, focusing on his own hands as he rolled it loosely. The taller man held the tie out for Will, finally meeting his eyes when Will reached out for it – now Caleb was sure Will was flustered.  
“I think you can change clothes now.” He said, his voice coming out huskier than   
Caleb let his fingers touch the robot man's as the tie exchanged hands, and smiled as he saw Will lick his lips again, merely nodding in response. As his heart begun to beat considerably faster he became sure that he would give in to the urge and instead Caleb walked off brushing their shoulders as he went. If he had only guessed before, he was now certain there was a chance. It only remained to be decided if he should take it.


	12. Indulgence

Caleb ignored Alex trying to talk to him and just hurried past her, he didn't have time to spare now that he had finally managed to break free from everyone else. He had finally made up his mind considering a very important decision and knew exactly how to go about it, and for once Caleb did not wish to wait a moment longer. He all but jogged down the hall until he reached the room he shared with Will. The door was open so Caleb came to a halt a little before it and waited until he was sure his breath was even before continuing.   
Caleb strolled into the room, kicking the door closed behind him. Will was exactly where he had expected the other man to be, sitting at his desk and furiously typing something on his laptop with the Sistematics book laid open next to it – this had become a familiar sight to Caleb. 

“John!” Caleb's greeting immediately caught the attention of the other man. Will became John Baskin in the matter of seconds, stood up and smiled back at the blond man in a way that instantly made Caleb smile in return despite not intending to. Will had become tuned to Caleb catching him alone and then just initiating a surprise practice session, he had agreed that it would be helpful for him to be able to assume his role at a moment's notice.  
“It's a pleasure to see you again, Mark.” Will extended his hand, taking few steps closer, friendly gleam in his eyes.  
Caleb met him halfway, grabbing hold of the offered hand and placing his free hand on Will's shoulder.  
“The pleasure is mutual.” He said, letting go of the hand but keeping hold of Will's shoulder. The other man didn't do as much as glance at the hand, instead he kept eye contact and continued smiling; he seemed much more comfortable with physical contact in this persona.  
“Well, well, John, have you been working out?” it was cheesy, but Caleb figured it wouldn't matter and might even get his point across faster. He let his hand slide over Will's bicep, giving a squeeze to it while carefully watching the other's reaction. Confusion ran over Will's face but he masked it quickly, the smile never wavering.  
“Yes, it's best to be in the best physical condition to take care of your mind as well.” He said, voice relaxed but eyes obviously searching for an answer to this test he had been placed in.  
“Is that so?” Caleb inched closer, carefully licking his lips and barely suppressing a smirk when he saw Will's eyes drop to follow the action. As far as Caleb was concerned, that was all the confirmation he needed and if it hadn't been, the fact that Will seemed unable to give a response sealed the deal. 

Caleb slid his free hand to Will's waist, feeling the man tense up at the touch. The dark-haired man stood perfectly still, his arms rigid at his sides and smile finally wiped away. Caleb let him process the situation, simply looking at him and every once in a while moistening his lips just to tease the man. Finally the leaned a bit closer, almost letting their noses touch.  
“Someone steal your tongue, John?” he asked in a low voice before filling the gap between them and brushing his lips to Will's.  
Caleb had intended it to be very careful, experimental kiss but to his surpriseWill had other plans; the man immediately kissed back with passion. Will's left hand found its place on the small of Caleb's back while his right one hastily came to the blond's neck, like Will was desperate to make sure Caleb wouldn't pull away. The taller man had no intention of doing so and after the initial shock, he responded in kind to the kiss, strengthening his hold on Will. The funny thing about it was that Will had again managed to surprise Caleb in more than one way. He had been expecting Will to be inexperienced, maybe even a sloppy kisser, but that was far from the truth; he definitely had an expert technique that Caleb could appreciate. The movement of the other man's fingers on Caleb's neck made his spine tingle all the way down to where Will's other hand pressed against him.

Caleb let himself be completely lost in the sensation, and when a brief knock on the door broke the moment he was slow to react. Luckily Will wasn't, he immediately let go and distanced himself just in time before the door to their room was opened and Shelby entered the room. Both men were out of breath, but Shelby didn't seem to notice. She also failed to notice the guilty expression on Will's face and the annoyance on Caleb's. She smiled a little as her eyes caught Caleb's, but he looked away in worry that he might end up saying just what was on his mind. He looked to Will but the dark-haired man had averted his eyes completely, readjusting his clothing before he muttered something about giving them space and abruptly leaving the room. Caleb drew in a deep breath before he was able to face Shelby again and act like she hadn't just interrupted something important. 

After Shelby's departure Caleb had tried looking for Will but had no luck in locating him, and it was late in the evening when his roommate finally reappeared. Caleb was already in bed when the other guy walked in and headed straight for the bathroom. When the dark-haired man came out again, he was very clearly pretending like he was alone and quickly turned off the lights that the blond-haired man had very deliberately left on. Caleb sighed, disappointed that Will hadn't said anything, but he knew better than to push it immediately no matter how much he wanted to continue where they had left off. After listening to Will crawl into bed and then make no noise at all, Caleb decided to sleep as well; only stirring a little bit to hear how Will get up after twenty minutes and change into his pajamas in the darkness. If Caleb had bothered to open his eyes, it would've been just to roll them.


	13. Impervious

Much to Caleb's surprise, the awkwardly clear avoiding was gone by the next day. Will still seemed uneasy in the morning so Caleb acted like the guy wasn't there – perhaps even a little petty about it since he shut the door in front of the robot man as he left. He was perfectly aware that he was being childish but it turned out to be working in his favor as Will was back to normal later that day. Much to his own annoyance, Caleb realized it wasn't what he wanted after all; Will was simply being way too normal for the situation. Caleb had expected the man to question him about the kiss like he questioned Caleb about everything, but instead Will kept studying as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The blond-haired man made a few attempts to direct Will into the topic, but he either wasn't getting the hints or was ignoring them so Caleb gave up for the time being. He quickly decided that the waiting game would be won by him, it had to be since Will was so naturally curious and hellbent in figuring Caleb out that he'd eventually have to bring the topic up – Caleb was confident in that. 

Being wrong wasn't something that Caleb took lightly and when Will simply kept acting like everything was normal for the following days, Caleb decided that he'd have to once again be the one to initiate. He found the man studying with Iris, the woman clearly not pleased about the interruption as she gave Caleb a nasty glare.  
“Sorry, I have to borrow Johnny 5 here for a second.” Caleb said and directed a smile at Iris while motioning for Will to follow him. Iris looked like she was about to argue so Caleb continued before she could: “It's really important, no girls allowed.”  
The dark-haired man frowned and looked to Iris for approval; she just rolled her eyes and gave him the 'go ahead' nod. The shorter man took to following Caleb couple steps behind him, and Caleb only occasionally glanced to make sure he was still there. He opened the door for Will and gestured for him to get inside first.

Will didn't say anything until the door to their room was closed, then asking: “Has there been a development regarding my integration?”  
“What? No, not yet.” Caleb waved the topic away, leaning against the closed door. He looked at Will from head to toe, managing to keep a straight face. Will clearly waited for him to elaborate but said nothing and Caleb let the silence go on for a moment longer before breaking it.  
“Come here.”  
Will gave him a puzzled look, not moving despite Caleb pointing at the spot on the floor directly in front of himself. The taller man rolled his eyes, wondering if everything had to be spelled out for the robot man but he refused to say anything more and just insistently pointed again.  
“Is this.. another rehearsal?” the man asked hesitantly.   
Caleb considered it, then nodded and watched in fascination as the android transformed into a real boy before his very eyes. The puzzled look was gone, replaced with something akin to determination as he finally obeyed the instructions given and came closer. Caleb said nothing, curious to see what would come next and even if it wasn't what he had had in mind, the results did not disappoint.

The dark-haired man looked at him with a peculiar look in his eyes, but there seemed to be no hesitation in the actions that followed. Will's hands came up to both sides of Caleb's face, one thumb running quickly over his cheek in what could only be described as affectionate manner; it made Caleb lean into the touch. The taller man licked his lips instinctively and the action was followed by Will bringing his own on Caleb's. The blond-haired man slid his arms around Will's waist, pulling the slightly shorter body against his own without any resistance from the other. It was just as amazing as the first time, only now it seemed to be going to places it hadn't previously. Will had Caleb practically pinned against the door, one leg sliding unnoticed between the taller man's, and even if it was placed there in accident – which Caleb wasn't sure it was – Caleb could see potential there. Caleb was sure things wouldn't go that far that but he certainly wasn't opposed to little fooling around. The taller man pulled Will's shirt up just enough to place his hands on warm skin, which made Will inhale sharply but he didn't pull away; Instead Will let one hand slide down Caleb's throat and stop over his chest, fingers clutching at the fabric of his shirt like he was attempting to yank it off of him. 

“Wait, I--” Will broke away when Caleb started pushing his hand up under the man's shirt. His breathing was heavy, which Caleb found to be an exciting sound.   
“She can wait.” Caleb said, guessing what was on the other man's mind and leaned to catch Will's lips before he could protest again.   
“No,” Will pulled back again after allowing a moment more of kissing, “she really can't.”  
The blond-haired man sighed, lifting his hands up to demonstrate his surrender. “Fine, go.”  
Caleb would've gladly persuaded Will to stay, but judging by all his previous interactions with Iris she would be looking for Will in no time if he wasn't returned to her side; she could be almost overprotective of the man and the last thing Caleb wanted was to be interrupted at a later point of wherever Will would've taken him.  
Will stepped back, watching him uncertainly. “I'm sorry.” He said carefully after some thought, leaning over to kiss the taller man quickly.  
Caleb folded his arms, doing his best to remain aloof even though he was feeling rather victorious. He was enjoying the sight of Will, looking out of breath and even little tinted red in the face. The look suited him and the blond-haired man hoped to make sure he'd see it more often now that the path had been opened for him.  
“Was there something else?” Caleb asked in a teasing tone when Will remained motionless.  
“No, but you're blocking the door.”


	14. Iteration

The double life Caleb had been living as both himself and as Mark had never been too hard to juggle, mostly because the two identities never existed in the same place. Caleb felt there had been a shift in that as he had made the observation that his own relationship with Will hadn't changed, instead Mark was the one who had entered a very, very passionate affair with John Baskin. It wasn't something that Caleb was new to, Mark had been in a selected few relationships outside of Quantico while Caleb had been sleeping with Shelby, but having both targets of affection in the same building was a bit trickier. Caleb hadn't slept with Shelby for weeks now, not after he got himself more actively involved with trying to figure out Will; this had proved to be much more challenging than he had anticipated and left Caleb unable to draw any conclusions.

The robot man continued to act as if nothing had changed, never bringing the topic up, but then he didn't hesitate to join in when Caleb made his move. It was unspoken action between them and while not all of their rehearsals turned into something more intimate, it became a common conclusion. Caleb was already confident that Will could pass under the Sistematics radar without any trouble at all, so his motives for still requesting practice had turned into purely his own gain. He wondered couple times if he should feel bad about it but then decided not to; Will didn't seem to have objections against any of it either so there was no reason to feel bad.

Shelby hadn't seemed to notice anything was astray, but she was preoccupied with everything that was going on in her private life. It was just as well, Caleb didn't want to keep having to hide things from her if she was actively looking for something, but he also didn't want to tell her what he was doing with Will. Caleb was unsure on how Shelby would handle it if she knew, but he was sure that she would at least be shocked since she seemed to be unaware of his interest in other men and Caleb had never seen a reason to bring it up to her. He figured that if (or when) Shelby would come around the corner wanting Caleb again, he'd decide on how to advance with his relationship with her. For now things were good and Caleb had no intention of ruining it, not with either one. At least Will knew of Caleb's relationship with Shelby, but Caleb didn't know if Will was bothered by it or if he didn't care or even if he'd have any reason to care in the first place. The blond-haired man wasn't planning on asking the other man about it. 

Despite his decision, Caleb couldn't help but to think about it. Specially when he was lying in bed with Will half on top of him, the dark-haired man kissing Caleb's neck carefully. During those moments he wanted two things: one was to stop thinking altogether and just enjoy the moment while it lasted, and the second line of thought had him wanting to stop what was happening and ask where everything was heading. He wasn't planning on asking if they were 'going steady' or would they get married one day, his interest was purely from a need to figure his roommate out. Caleb wanted to know what their secret little hobby was to Will, he wanted to know what was going through the robot man's circuits when he pinned Caleb to the bed and let his hands hike up the blond-haired man's shirt. Caleb wanted to know but he didn't want to ask, unsure if he could commit to whatever the answer might be.

Caleb let out a long sigh, arching his back slightly as Will moved to kissing his now exposed chest. They had done this before, Will never going further down than Caleb's chest and always neglecting to let his hand roam where Caleb really wanted it to go. There was something maddening yet so enjoyable about the way Will would slide his hands over Caleb's thighs – both outside and inside – but then never properly touching him despite it being clear that Caleb wanted it. The blond-haired man was sure that Will was just as aroused as he was – judging by the time he took in the bathroom after they stopped – so he figured there was a mental block stopping the other man from going further. Partly pleased that the robot man's body functioned like a normal human's, Caleb continued to try and make it painfully obvious to Will that Caleb wanted more without blatantly saying so, but he also felt content with the way things always unfolded so reliably. Will would stop, pull away and say something under his breath before leaving the bed to lock himself in the bathroom for a while. First few times Caleb had waited for him, but then he had learned to just take care of himself while Will was away because after exiting the bathroom the dark-haired man would simply stay on his side of the room. Caleb had never tried to stop or follow Will, simply letting him be and sometimes pretending to be asleep just to save Will the trouble of awkwardly mumbling goodnight. 

It had taken a few times for Caleb to notice, but Will would always stop exactly after eleven minutes. When he had started to notice, he had at first thought it was a peculiar coincidence but soon realized that it was more like clockwork and happened without a fail. The blond-haired man had come to expect it, and so when Will left the bed this time, Caleb immediately checked the time. He watched as Will picked up his previously discarded shirt and put it on before entering the bathroom, and then Caleb took care of himself again, listening to the sound of running water from the shower.

Close to twenty minutes later Will emerged from the bathroom and Caleb took his turn to get a quick shower. When he was finished, Will had already changed into his pajamas and was in bed. Caleb stood by the door for a moment, just watching the motionless figure and guessing with himself if the robot man was only pretending to be asleep or if he had exhausted himself. In passing Caleb toyed with the idea of climbing into Will's bed and asking him if he was just going to leave Caleb hanging, it would almost be worth it just to see how the other man would react. Caleb had barely taken a step toward Will's bed when he already decided against it and returned to his own side without a word.


	15. Impediment

Shelby and Alex had both left Caleb alone in the hallway, standing just in his shorts while waiting for his physical. He saw Will come out from one of the rooms down the hall, already with his shirt on, which disappointed Caleb only a small bit. The man made eye contact with Caleb, nodding his head as she started making his way Caleb; completely ignoring Iris in the process as she called out to the dark-haired man.   
“You ready?” Caleb asked, looking around quickly to make sure no one was within earshot. “Tonight's the big night.”  
“Well, besides the fact that I'll be penetrating a cult under a false identity, I'd call tonight pretty average.” Will huffed in a low voice, constantly looking around.   
“Stop saying "penetrating.” Caleb complained, wishing he wasn't mostly naked when Will spoke like that. "It's a rescue mission, not a sex act.”  
Will half rolled his eyes at the remark, not giving an answer and instead walking past Caleb. The reaction made Caleb chuckle by himself.

The two met in their room for last quick rehearsal before classes, Will sat in his chair and Caleb paced back and forth in front of him, acting as a Sistemics representative asking questions they were sure would be asked from John Baskin in the evening. Caleb scrutinized every answer and interrupted him to ask more to see if he was prepared with the details; it looked like Will was prepared for every question. They were interrupted when the door was suddenly opened without a warning and Iris stepped in. Will scrambled to put away the Sistemics book he had laid out in the open, being little too obvious with his 'we weren't doing anything' look for Caleb's comfort. Iris gazed at them suspiciously, her eyes darting between the two men, but she ended up only noting that they were late before she backed out of the room.  
“You need to learn to relax a little bit, dude.” the blond-haired man sighed, patting his roommate on the shoulder as he passed the man.  
Caleb took his backpack and left the room, figuring it was better if he and Will didn't attract more suspicion toward each other by acting like pre-schoolers who always needed to go everywhere together.

It didn't seem to work, Iris soon tracked Caleb down, sounding stern as she called his name and came to walk next to him.  
“You better not be taking advantage of my boy Will.” she said like a concerned mother.   
“Well, he's a grown man, so he could take care of himself.” Caleb noted back, working hard to keep himself sounding nonchalant.  
“Yeah, I know he is.” Iris said, suddenly defensive. “I'm just worried he doesn't think he needs to.“   
“But we're getting so close.” He wanted to laugh, if only she knew just how close, but Caleb wasn't going to tell her any of that. “You know, you should be happy.”  
“Hey!” Her tone made Caleb stop so he could pay more attention to her.  
“He's one of the few good ones here. Please don't screw with that, okay?” Iris sounded almost pleading, suspicion written on her face. “I'm watching you.”  
“I love when you do.” was all Caleb could say, mocking out of habit. Iris scoffed, walking away from him. He wondered at which point had Iris started being so cautious of him as the woman had not too long ago displayed interest in sleeping with the blond-haired man – or perhaps that had just been an act to annoy Shelby – but now she was clearly trying to look out for Will. Caleb hoped that wouldn't become a problem, but he'd need to figure out some safety plan if she got uncomfortably nosy. 

After the first part of the day's exercise was done, Will came to Caleb's side, looking like he wanted to say something but didn't have the time to. He kept doing that, trying to get close to the blond-haired man but never seemed like it was the right time to say whatever he had in mind. Caleb thought it must not have been too big of a deal since Will had always previously pulled Caleb to the side if he had something of importance to say, but soon Caleb started to realize that something was most definitely off. He noticed it from the way Iris and Shelby whispered to each other and kept looking in his direction, the latter woman showing signs of distress again.   
“Something's wrong.” Caleb noted, mostly to himself.  
“Iris must have told her.” said Will.  
“You talked to Iris?!” he couldn't believe what he was hearing.  
“She saw us!” Will got defensive, and Caleb instantly realized this must've been what the man had wanted to tell him throughout the day. He felt like burying his head in his hands.   
“Okay, new rule You don't talk to Iris.” Caleb commanded, irritated with the foolish slip up but not wanting to get into any visibly argument with the other man while everyone was watching.  
“Actually, you don't talk to anybody for that matter. Just go directly to your meeting.” was what Caleb said before he walked away from Will. 

\----

“Are you sure about this? You can still back out.” Caleb asked for the twelfth time as he walked with Will to the man's car.  
“I'm not afraid.”assured Will, placing his backpack on the backseat.  
“Call me immediately after you leave, you understand?” the blond-haired man demanded wiping off snow from Will's shoulders with nervous energy. The dark-haired man nodded and for a moment the men just looked at each other; Caleb wanted to kiss him but didn't want to do anything to throw Will off from his concentration so instead he patted his roommate on the shoulder. Will got into his car, waving a little as he drove off.  
Caleb stood out in the snowy parking lot for a while, deciding that he'd need to keep himself occupied until he'd hear from Will or else he'd keep thinking about it. He came to the conclusion that now was the optimal time to figure out what was wrong with Shelby, so Caleb headed to see Iris.

He found her heading to their room and followed her, swinging the door to a close as he entered after her.  
“What did you tell Shelby?” he asked.  
“I told her the truth.” She sighed, sounding annoyed. “Just like I told your little cult the truth.”  
“Wait, w-what did you do?” A cold, sinking feeling took over him. He desperately hoped that whatever she said next wouldn't be his worst fear.  
“Look, I don't care what do you with your life, but I'm not gonna let you endanger Will's.” Iris continued still on defense. “I told them he's an agent. They'll never let him in now.”  
“Y-You told him that?! He's on his way there now!” His voice rose high with shock, his entire body shaking with shock from the news. He immediately selected Will's number from his phone and brought the phone up.  
“You just put his life in danger!” Caleb spat out, filled with disgust toward Iris and blaming himself for not realizing this was exactly she could do.   
“I was trying to protect him...” she said, dumbstruck but he wasn't listening to her any longer. The sound of the phone was all he could hear, muttering for Will to please pick up his phone. Shelby arrived, but Caleb had no time to waste; he hurried past her just promising to explain later and ran to his car with the phone still against his ear.  
He had to get to Will.


	16. Iniquity

Caleb kept trying to reach Will on the phone throughout the car ride, only stopping long enough to dig out his Mark Raymond glasses and put on his spare clothing from the car's backseat. He was shivering the entire time, knowing that if Will wasn't picking up, he must have reached Sistemics already and that meant he was in trouble. Caleb knew the rescue plan had failed and his own cover was compromised; it had been bad choice to try and bring Will into this after all. Now he needed to somehow get Will out while keeping himself in, and what would be excruciatingly difficult. Caleb tried to slow down as he pulled up to the threatening Sistemics building so he wouldn't look as suspicious, but realized it was unlikely since there were people waiting for him at the entrance.  
“We've been waiting for you, Mark.” was the greeting as soon as Caleb walked close enough. “Or should I say Caleb Haas?”  
The question confirmed to the blond-haired man that the situation was bad, so he simply said the first thought from his mind: “Where's Will?”  
“Don't worry about your friend, worry about yourself.” was the response from the smiling man, and Caleb had to restrain himself from immediately jumping at his throat. “We put our faith in you, Mr. Haas, no one more so than me.”  
“T-This whole thing is a big misunderstanding.” Caleb tried, bringing his hands up trying to calm the situation.  
“Will Olsen is not my friend! I barely know the guy.” He explained then hurried to add: “Yes, we both work for the FBI, but he came here to bust me.”  
Caleb hadn't been interrupted, so he finished his defense with: “I'm here to help Sistemics, to protect you guys from the FBI from the inside. “  
“Well, we'll see about that.” the man said in a way that made it clear that he wasn’t buying what Caleb was selling. Didn't help that when he turned and walked away, his two goons came to both sides of Caleb and walked him in with them. Even when Caleb didn't resist, they still put their arms on his and dragged the blond-haired man between them if he dragged his feet even for a step. Caleb came without protest and  
stopped trying to explain himself when everything he said was ignored, focusing his energy to remain calm as he was lead through the building to a side door. They exited to a little alleyway between the two adjoining Sistemics buildings and Caleb's focus instantly fixed itself on the other people already out there – between two more goons was Will, being held in place and looking very alarmed. The two of them stared at each other, Caleb couldn’t read what was going on behind his roommate’s eyes and he didn’t have time to begin to guess before he was shoved violently by the goons holding him, making Caleb trip and fall to the ground.

“Oh, maybe I was wrong to say you shouldn't worry about your friend.” the man chuckled.  
“Hey, I never wanted to leave Sistemics!” Caleb scrambled to his knees, trying his hardest to keep his tone in normal pitch but failing rapidly with each word.  
“My dad pulled me out.” He tried defending himself as he stood up, his back toward Will and the two other men, and started gesturing wildly between himself, the goons, and Will. “You guys are my people! It's not them!”  
“Why should we believe a word you say?” asked the man, smiling coldly.  
“Look, I can I can prove it. Tell me what to do, I can prove it!” Caleb was desperate now, fighting the need to turn around to check on Will.  
“That's good. Prove it right now.”  
“How?” Caleb hurried to ask, spreading his arms wide.  
“Hit him.” the command was accompanied by a malicious grin.  
“...What?” Caleb knew he had heard right, but he still wanted to stall for time.  
“Is he your friend or not?”  
Slowly Caleb turned to see Will, trying to come up with anything he could use as a reason not to go through with what was requested of him. Their eyes met and Caleb wanted to say something – anything at all – but knew it'd be all lost if he risked it. Will stared back at him, still alarmed but his eyes were defiant.  
“I'm not afraid.” The robot man said evenly. Caleb could only hope it was a sign of acceptance as he swung his fist at Will's stomach, not using his full force but enough to make Will gasp out in pain. Caleb watched as the dark-haired man coughed, shaking his own hand like it had hurt him too as he turned to face that menacing grin again with “There. Happy?”  
“Oh, hit him again.” the man teased, and Caleb knew there was no arguing. He took a look at Will, still faintly gasping, and took a split second decision that it was best not to prolong this for either of them – Caleb hit Will with full force in the face. It caused his cheek to rip open and made the man gag, spit out blood. Caleb could do nothing but look at him, feeling terrible and helpless.  
“Here.” Caleb turned at the sound of the voice to see a short piece of metal being held out for him. “Now use this.”  
Caleb took it, numbness taking over his body as he processed what it meant. He looked at Will again, the man being propped up by the two goons at his sides. Caleb hated himself for feeling a sense of relief when Will only looked defiant and not pleading, it was the only thing that gave strength to the blond-haired man when he swung the metal against his roommate, causing him to scream.  
Caleb lost count how many times he hit Will, it came automatically after every cruel “Again” command, always followed by agonized cry from Will, who was now bleeding heavily and clearly unable to stand on his own. The Caleb's mind was filled with white noise, he couldn't even place how much time had passed, only vaguely registering a feminine scream that suddenly rang in the alleyway.  
“What are you doing?” the woman's voice screamed in shock, and Caleb found himself being dragged back inside by the men who had kept Will up; Will sunk to the icy ground as soon as he wasn't being forced to stand. Caleb thought he saw Shelby – though he couldn't figure out why she'd be there so he assumed the shock of the situation had made him hallucinate – kneel beside his motionless roommate before the door shut in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTICE ABOUT HIATUS:  
> My laptop has been slowly dying for a long time now and just recently the keyboard begun to resign itself from active duty – ten keys no longer work at all. This is incredibly frustrating in itself and also makes writing take ages even on search bars since I have to use onscreen keyboard. So I’m just going to shelve writing until I can get an extra keyboard. 
> 
> To anyone who has followed this fic: I’m sorry! I’m NOT abandoning this story but I’m not certain when I’m continuing it.


	17. Intermission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The disjointed antics are back for a little while! This chapter is even more disjointed than any previous one because I didn’t want to spend several chapters to cover the events between graduation and the terrorist hunt of season one – this fic isn’t meant to be about Quantico, just about Caleb and Will after all. I recently watched season 2 and was thoroughly disappointed in the lack of any Caleb and Will content, so my story for them can’t expand much and so I’m basically starting to write the ending to this next.

Caleb stared at his roommate’s face, carefully examining every inch of his swollen skin and committing the cuts to his memory. Will seemed to be recovering well, and in the last three times that Caleb had come to the hospital, he had been awake. It had made it harder for Caleb to visit as he had yet to muster up the courage to let the dark-haired man know that he was there. He wanted to tell Will how grateful he was that he hadn’t revealed the real source of his injuries to anyone, not even when Iris and Shelby had kept insisting he’d need to tell the truth to make sure Caleb was held accountable. It was all thanks to Will’s resolve that Caleb was still able to attend Quantico, and that was partially why Caleb had such a hard time facing Will. It felt like there were no words good enough to justify for Will not be able to graduate simply because he got mixed in Caleb’s business. The blond-haired man blamed himself for it, feeling as if he had personally taken a valuable agent from the Bureau and that there was nothing he could say to make it better. Instead Caleb had vowed to himself that once he’d taken down Sistemics, he’d do everything in his power to make sure Will would be repaid.

He had been incredibly lucky that his entire operation hadn’t been blown to bits after Iris’ stunt and that Shelby’s attempts at exposing Caleb hadn’t done damage, even if it had come to mean that her trust in him was wavering once more. Berlin had finally been arrested, but Caleb felt little satisfaction from it; it wasn’t the justice that Caleb had been hoping to bring down on the man. Sistemics wasn’t down for good, even if its lies had been for the most part exposed to the public. Caleb had always hoped to destroy the cult entirely and see everyone responsible behind bars for the rest of their lives, stripped of their smugness and any comfort. But more importantly, Caleb had always wished to see Ross again even if in the back of his mind he had feared the worst. He had been partially ready to hear that Ross was dead, but it still came as a shock to him and to hear claims that it was a suicide crushed him. Caleb had known Ross intimately and knew no matter what, Ross would not have killed himself. Sistemics had murdered him, and no matter what, Caleb would not be able to make them face justice for it. Clayton had quickly decided that Caleb should take time off and pulled him from Quantico, which made Caleb think of the times in high school when his father had done the exact same thing whenever Caleb had seemed like he would bring shame to the family name. Caleb hadn’t argued, secretly longing for time away from everyone he’d need to act around of, but time alone only made his guilt worsen. 

He wondered how many times he could visit the hospital before the staff would get suspicious of his motives. Caleb could swear that couple of the nurses were eyeing him, but that might have just been because he hadn’t slept in couple days and could probably pass for a patient. Caleb passed a corner but was forced to duck back behind it when he spotted Will in the hallway. The dark-haired man was dressed in his own clothes, talking to a nurse and clearly on his way out. Of course Caleb had known Will wouldn’t be at the hospital forever and had already been there for a good while, but seeing him ready to leave came as a surprise to the blond-haired man. He peeked from the cover, trying to push himself into finally facing Will and talking to him. He considered just stepping out and waiting for Will to see him, hoping for Will to come to him instead. Caleb could only picture it in his mind, but his body felt glued to the wall; he simply watched as Will walked out, out of the hospital and out of his life.

"I want to go back.” Caleb told his father when he returned.  
Clayton glanced at his son, taking one look at his messy appearance before shaking his head.  
"Dad, I have to.” Caleb pressed. “I might not get another chance.”  
"Caleb, you don’t need to worry about it. I have it covered.” Clayton assured, but it was Caleb’s turn to shake his head.  
"I-I want to graduate properly like everyone else.” he pleaded, forcing Clayton to look at him.  
After a short silence, the man finally nodded with a sigh. That was all it took, the next day Caleb was able to return to Quantico like he hadn’t been gone at all. His reappearance to the program did not delight all of them, both Iris and Shelby wasted no time in voicing their discontent as soon as they saw him. Caleb wanted to quip how cute it was that the two girls had found each other, but he felt that their anger was justified and instead decided to take it all.

The rest of his time in Quantico he considered himself a loner, mostly just going through the motions but not feeling connected to anything. His prime goal had been to takedown Sistemics and with that over, he felt as if there was nothing more driving him forward. He had hoped that returning to Quantico would help his mood, that the routine would make him feel something again but Caleb was just left feeling empty. At home he had felt like the walls were closing in and the feeling had followed him, the dorm room now much too quiet without Will there. Whenever he passed the now empty bed, Caleb was reminded of what had happened between them. He found himself both wishing the robot man was still there but also thinking that he was better off being somewhere where Caleb couldn’t keep ruining his life. Will hadn’t tried to contact him and Caleb didn’t blame him, but he still kept thinking about the other man and often came close to trying to find out where he had gone. He was sure Iris would know, but she would never tell him and part of Caleb agreed with her. Instead of trying to get close to Shelby, he tried to make her happy from afar in the only way he knew how. He wasn’t surprised when his efforts blew up in his face and Shelby swore to never associate with him, in fact part of him had hoped for a way to self-sabotage so he wouldn’t hurt her again by getting close. 

After graduation Caleb received a desk job as a courtesy from his father, which felt mindnumbing for most of the time but at least he was good at it. Caleb was in the shock of his life when he learned that Shelby was having an affair with his father, and that his family was finally falling apart behind the scenes. Caleb sunk deeper into the rabbit hole he had been digging for himself, he spent his freetime drunk or looking at old photos of Ross, wondering if he should’ve fought harder and never left Ross’ side. He wondered if Ross would still be alive, if Shelby would be happy, and Will would be making a difference in the world. After some time Caleb could no longer pinpoint when exactly had his drug use become a problem, but he found only little energy to actually care.


	18. Ingress

Caleb was aware that Will had gone missing for months but when he had heard that he might be part of The Voice’s plans, Caleb had refused to believe it. He was expecting for the man to resurface from something entirely unrelated – so when news hit him that Will had been kidnapped and later forced to built a nuke, Caleb was speechless. His mother had been fiercely against Caleb leaving where she could supervize him but Caleb had made it clear he would not be stopped from visiting the hospital and eventually she had relented. Will’s family had come to visit him often and Caleb had experienced great difficulty in avoiding running into them. Of course none of them knew who Caleb was but it didn’t stop the blond-haired man from feeling that just by looking at him they’d somehow figure out that Caleb had played a part in the current condition of their family member.

He had come to the hospital several times but been unable to reach Will himself, he had been around enough for couple of the nurses to note that they didn’t have a rehab program. Alex on the other hand had become almost friendly with Will’s family and she filled Caleb in on details about his condition. He had not woken up even once since Alex and Shelby had brought him to the hospital and it seemed that the radiation damage was extensive – Apparently it was a miracle he was still clinging to life and the help had gotten to him just in the nick of time. The doctors continued to be cautious over his prognosis and refused to give a definite answer when questioned, simply advicing to be prepared for anything. Caleb had tried to call them out on their evasiveness but Alex had managed to talk him down from causing a scene. 

Then finally Caleb found his opportunity to see Will one late evening. It was the first time in months that Caleb had seen his former roommate and a sick part of him appreciated the irony of the circumstances being the same. He could still vividly remember the damage he himself had done to Will’s face but as guilty as he had felt then, he now wished to instead see those marks over the real condition the man was in. Will was extremely pale, his eyes seemed to be sunken in and he needed mechanical help just to be able to breathe. Caleb had known it was bad but the sight of the other man still made him stop in his tracks for a moment. Caleb had taken so much time to get to see his former roommate but seeing him in that state just made him want to walk out instantly. Part of him hoped that Will would wake up so he could finally say everything he had never managed to but the other part of him was relieved he didn’t need to apologize; he hated himself for that part. 

Caleb only visited Will once, not because he wouldn’t have wanted to go but because of everything else that was going on. He knew there was a real chance that Will would never wake up but he couldn’t keep dwelling on it – problem was that he could not think about Will without thinking of it. Instead Caleb chose to forbid his thoughts from going to the dark-haired man at all, he dedicated himself even more to helping catch The Voice, which they eventually accomplished. It came as a relief to everyone involved that the nightmare was finally over, but to Caleb a greater joy was in seeing Will awake and walking when the man showed up at Simon’s funeral. Alex and Shelby were welcoming him back when Caleb noticed them and immediately hurried to join the group. They hadn’t been in contact ever since that fateful evening so Caleb felt moronic when he couldn’t utter a word as he walked up to his former roommate. He wasn’t sure what sort of reaction he was expecting from Will, but it wasn’t the smile that Will broke into as he noticed Caleb. 

"It’s good to see you, Caleb.” the man said with ease, leaning for a hug that the blond-haired man accepted without hesitation, feeling himself melt into a smile just because of the warm welcome he received from the one he had been avoiding for so long.  
"How’re you feeling, buddy?” he asked before burying his face into Will’s shoulder, hugging him as tight as he dared without hurting his still recovering body. He wished he could just keep holding onto Will for longer when he felt the other pull away, Caleb let him go with a sigh of disappointment.   
“Good to see you too. How you doing, man?” Caleb continued, his voice dropping lower with each word as he started feeling more and more nervous about the situation.  
"Good. How are you?” Will’s voice went quiet as well, mirroring Caleb’s tone though he looked puzzled and raised one brow in question.  
The blond-haired man glanced quickly at Shelby and Alex, but both women had turned their attention to Ryan and inadvertedly gave the two men some privacy. He placed a hand on Will’s arm and leaned closer.  
"I’m sorry. For everything.” Caleb whispered in a hurry as if he was fearing that it might be the last time he could, searching Will’s eyes for any blame but found none.   
His former roommate simply shook his head slightly but said nothing, then nodding for them to rejoin the discussion they had been left out of. Caleb wanted to say more or ask any sort of confirmation but he held his tongue.


	19. Incertitude

Caleb pulled the blanket over his head and tightly around himself, groaning as the sunlight hurt his eyes yet he didn’t want to give up his comfortable spot on the couch in order to close the curtains. He looked around the small apartment, marveling over how messy the place was despite feeling like he barely left the couch. He was losing sight of how long he had spent in the apartment that had used to belong to Alex, but he wondered if he even cared. Everyone had been so adamant about Caleb getting himself clean that he had finally agreed to stop fighting but he was still against going to rehab, hating the idea of being surrounded by false positivity. Being forced to stay at the apartment was dull but considerably better than being forced to socialize, and he was routinely visited by those he had started to mocklingly refer to as his jailers – Alex, Ryan or Shelby. When he heard the keys jingle against the lock, Caleb made a mental bet against himself for which one it would be today but found himself losing bigger than he had anticipated when Will appeared through the door.

"Hello.” Will said, closing the door behind him.  
Caleb stared at the dark-haired man with wide eyes and unable to say anything for a moment. He had expected to see Will again at some point but not so quickly and was entirely unprepared to be face to face with his former roommate in his current condition.  
"Alex gave me a key, she had other matters to attend to today so I offered to come in her stead.” Will explained when he realized Caleb wouldn’t be answering, walking past Caleb to put the grocery bag away. Caleb’s gaze followed him, his mind still trying to convince itself that he wasn’t hallucinating. When he was confident enough, Caleb stood up and followed the man.  
"You look good.” Caleb commented as he noticed the scarring on Will’s hands had considerably diminished since the last time they met.  
"I can’t truthfully say the same about you.” Will replied, turning to face the other man. “But it is good to see you again, Caleb.”  
The blond-haired man gave a hollow laugh in response. “What? The dirty boy look isn’t cutting it for you?”  
"The presence of neglected personal hygiene accompanied with your apparent depressive state of mind is not how I’m accustomed to perceiving you, no.” Will explained in earnest.   
"Gee, thanks Johnny 5, you really know how to pay a compliment.” Caleb said, unable to help himself from smiling as he started to feel like old times. He had truly missed his robot man a whole lot more than he had let himself acknowledge but hearing him speak like old times was really making him realize his own longing.  
There was a moment of silence between them as both men simply looked at each other. Caleb tried his hardest to read Will’s expression for what he was thinking but couldn’t figure the dark-haired man out.

"Listen. About everything that happened...” Caleb started but Will shook his head.  
"I knew the dangers when I volunteered to help, you did what you had to.” he said. “And after what transpired since I can’t make the claim that getting hit around by you would be the worst experience of my life.” He added with a slight smile that managed to Caleb’s guilt a small bit.  
"Yeah, I guess not.” Caleb agreed. “What happened to you anyway?”  
"It’s a long story that I would prefer not to dwell on at the moment.”  
"Okay. But are you… okay?” Caleb asked, unsure if anyone really could be after what Will had gone through but the dark-haired man seemed unfazed by his question.  
"Yes. I appreciate your concern.” he replied and the pair just looked at each for a moment once more.  
"Would you like to discuss your condition?” Will asked, sounding unsure if he was supposed to be addressing Caleb’s drug problem or not. Caleb simply shook his head, waving the issue away. He hadn’t seriously discussed it with anyone and wasn’t about to start with the robot man, though he felt that if anyone could have less annoying attitude toward it then it would be Will. He wanted to say something more but before he could, Will surprised him with a request of his own.

"Would you be opposed if I kissed you?”   
Caleb stared at him as he tried to process if what he just heard was real, but his lack of response made Will shift uncomfortably. He was just about to say something else when Caleb managed to get his brain back into working order.  
"No, why would I?” He asked back, wondering why he suddenly felt nervous about the prospect of kissing Will. Was it because it had been a long time or because he had never heard Will say it outloud before? Or was it the simple act of asking to do so?  
Will shifted again, considering his words carefully before saying: “I was unsure if the practice was part of Mark and John’s cover relationship or if it could be applied to you and I as well.”  
It felt like pieces of a puzzle had suddenly fallen into place by just hearing that one simple sentence. Caleb felt like he understood so much more from what he had previously been wondering about, feeling a little slow that he hadn’t figured it out on his own. The taller man stepped closer.   
"It definitely does.” he said before placing his lips on Will’s. The other man immediately kissed him back and Caleb was just about to drop his blanket in order to take hold of the man when he felt Will pull away.  
"What’s wrong?” Caleb asked, studying the dismayed expression on his former roommate’s face.  
"Please do not take it the wrong way.” Will started. “I very much enjoy kissing you and would like to be able to perform it more often, but I confess I have greatly underestimated how long you have gone without dental hygiene.”  
Caleb laughed more at how apologetic Will sounded than over what he said, stepping back before he’d need to worry if his breath would make the other man gag.  
"Point taken.” Caleb said. “If you’re not in a hurry I’ll just take a shower and.. we can continue where this left off.” He suggested, already walking toward the bathroom.  
"That would be preferable.” Will agreed with a sigh of relief.  
"Or,” Caleb turned to look back at the door, “you could just join me in here and save some time.”


	20. Integrated

If Caleb had claimed that staying off heroin was easy, he would’ve been lying to everyone around himself and most of all himself. He had been clean for a while and yet he still experienced the urge to get high even on a good day. It was even worse on the days when he’d be reminded of his father, of Ross, of everyone he had let down in his life. Working at the Bureau had only worsened those moments which had eventually resulted in his resignation, which had not exactly come as a surprise to anyone. His mother had been against it – which had ultimately convinced Caleb that it was the best course of action for himself – and he had left to study law at Berkeley Law in California. He was aware that he might not have been able to do that if it wasn’t for his mother’s status, but Caleb had already accepted it and was determined to prove himself outside of his mother’s influence. He barely kept in touch with her or his siblings, both of whom were much closer to their mother than Caleb was – that seemed to be the result of being the family disgrace for months. 

Caleb had almost entirely lost touch with his former NAT companions, only knowing from hearsay what they were up to; he himself didn’t miss saving the world in the slightest. He was still in casual contact with Shelby from time to time and couldn’t deny that he still had feelings for her but he knew it would never work out any longer if it ever could have in the first place. Whenever he heard from her, he’d be glad for a moment to remember the softness of her voice and the sassy attitude he fell for, but in time he’d just be reminded of where things went wrong and he could no longer separate that from how he remembered Shelby. He was proud of her for what she had accomplished for herself but knew that she had long since outgrown Caleb and was unsure if she even had feelings for him after all the time that had passed. Part of him wanted to find out but that was also the part of him that craved heroin at any given moment, the rational side of him tried to constantly convince him that if he tried to find out he would simply be digging his own grave.

When it came to Will, the blond-haired man was unsure what he should categorize his former roommate as. He had never asked Will to join him in California and he knew Will was not the type to just stop helping the world, which had lead him to live and work in Virginia after his full recovery. However they still kept in contact more routinely than Caleb did with anyone else he had used to know and the dark-haired man had even come to visit him on few occasions without Caleb having to ask. Caleb laughed at himself for how he was wondering like a teen if they were long distance boyfriends or if Will was just someone who came around sometimes to fool around; whatever the case was it was certain that the robot man played a big part in Caleb’s strength to stay clean from heroin. Naturally he refused to voice this to the man himself in worry that he’d just make a sappy fool of himself and it was just not something Caleb was willing to expose himself as. 

"Aren’t you going to compliment me on my tan?” Caleb asked, spreading his arms in an effort to allow the other man a better look of his torso. Will traced his fingers over Caleb’s shirtless upper body, considering the skin for a moment before answering.  
"Yes, it is very becoming.” The dark-haired man placed a kiss on Caleb’s shoulder.  
"You mean I look hot, don’t you?” Caleb teased pushing Will down to the bed with him.   
"Yes, you look hot.” Will agreed, grinning at Caleb’s laugh.   
"See, your programming does allow you to talk like a real boy.” teased the man on top.  
"I suppose you would prefer for me to demonstrate how much of a real boy I can be?” Will asked back with a lowered tone and a suggestive raise of one brow. 

The taller man positioned himself between Will’s legs, which the other man happily obliged to as he slid his arms around the body on top of him him. Caleb placed a kiss over Will’s collarbone, followed by lightly biting against it in order to raise that delicious reaction from the other man he had come to expect. Will inhaled sharly and pulled Caleb closer to him, which made it more difficult for Caleb to keep his teeth on him but the blond-haired man had always enjoyed a challenge he could conquer. Will grunted in response to Caleb’s efforts and grabbed hold of one buttock, giving it a squeeze as he kept forcing Caleb’s hips to be in contact with his own. Caleb finally gave in and abandoned the collarbone for the sake of kissing Will, who immediately moved his hands to work on Caleb’s belt. The man on top chuckled, wasting no more time in getting out his remaining clothes.

The moments spent in Caleb’s apartment – more specifically in his bed – with Will by his side had become deeply cherished for the blond-haired man. He felt content when he spent time with the other man, though even those moments were not entirely devoid of darkness. Sometimes his attention would be drawn to any of the small scars that covered Will’s skins and he’d start blaming himself for everything that had almost killed Will. The scars got lighter and thinner with time, some had almost entirely disappeared and Caleb might not have seen them if he wasn’t specifically looking to see them. On the positive side, Will had grown to recognize it when Caleb was slipping into these thoughts and he had developed a perfect countermeasure to keep Caleb’s mind occupied with something else – or preferably empty of any thought at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it, the end of this effort. Admittedly I had originally planned for this to go in a different direction when I started writing this, but back then I also thought Will had died in 'Fast'. Then I hoped there would've been any Will/Caleb content in season 2 but none of that ever came so I couldn't even adjust my plans to cover that season as well. Admittedly it would've been interesting to cover the whole Harry/Will shenanigans but I digress. Disjointed ending for a disjointed fic it is.


End file.
